Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Week #30 - A Week of Miracle and Cripples

Well... this week was nuts! Like, really!! As the subject
line says, it was a week full of miracles and cripples! I`ll just tell the
story, and let you figure out which is which, shaaaallll we?

For starters, for those who remember, Hna Miranda
wiped out on her first week in the mission and dislocated her right knee.
Right? Right. Anyway, since you all don't have the chance to meet her and know
her super-hilariously-stubborn personality, I`ll let you in on a secret - she
has a super-hilariously-stubborn personality!! Basically, she decided that no
doctor was going to tell her what to do and wrapped a bandage around her knee, took some
major pain killers, and went out to work! One year and 4 months
later, this stubbornness resulted in blowing out her meniscus. We were walking
to the chapel to work on something for the Bishop, when she suddenly gasped and
fell against the wall, and literally couldn't walk anymore. Her knee
gave out - Ka poot.

L

uckily, we were still close to the pension, and slowly
(emphasis on slowly) made our way back. A few phone calls to Hna Giuliani and
the mission doctor later, we were prescribed ice, minimal walking, and
absolutely no going up and down stairs. That last restriction was a particularly
difficult as we live in an upstairs apartment, haha :) Soo,
the last 4 days have been spent inside our pension. To keep myself from going
insane, I've taken up all sorts of activities, which include the following:

1) organizing and cleaning everything in our apartment that
isn't bolted down. And then going back and organizing and cleaning everything
that IS bolted down as well, ha ha :)

2) Experimenting and successfully triumphing in making brownies!
(also, since it is the end of transfers and we had bare minimal food/I couldn't go
to the store to buy any ingredients, the recipe got realllly creative. The
brownies included chocolate milk powder and malta. But hey, they turned out
seriously delicious :)

3) Crochet. No really!!!. I'm learning crochet, and am
determined to mail home a whole bunch of slightly lumpy looking scarves for
Christmas. Sorry about the lumpy looks... seems I don't have the knack for
knotting yarn artistically, ha ha :)

4) Listening to the Les Miserables and Wicked soundtrack through
about 4 times each. Hna Miranda finally begged me to change the songs,
haha.

5) Discovering the band, Jericho Road, on Karis' blue MP3 that
I took with me, and getting a hoot out of reliving Eden and my early teenage
years, haha. For those unfamiliar with Jericho Road, imagine Mormon Backstreet
boys... its pretty great :)

6) I made another batch of one of my favorite Chilean
recipes - pan con anis! I love these sweet rolls, and made about 3 dozen
yesterday. Then, reasoned that the bread would go bad in the humidity pretty
quickly, and promptly ate about 2 dozen in the first 24 hours. Totally worth
it.

As you can see, its been a pretty creative week, haha
:)

Ready for the next story? This is a good one :) So,
background - before I arrived in Paran, Hna Miranda and her previous companion
(Hna Avaloz) had prayed over the area book and all the previous investigators,
and felt to pass by and visit only one family -the Ceparo family. When I
arrived, we always planned to try and visit them, but it always fell through,
and never actually happened. Finally, after a whole transfer of planning for
them, we finally managed to pass by the house, only to discover that they no
longer lived there, and had moved. Phooey. Not knowing how else to find them,
we moved on.

A little while later, we were talking with Melina - the
novia of Ramiro, a 17 yr old member in our ward. Melina originally had no
interest in the church, and only came to activities or meetings with Ramiro to
support him. However, we invited her again to talk with the missionaries, and
this time, she accepted. So, about a month ago, we headed out to meet with her
and all her family. The lesson went wonderfully, and we quickly realized how
amazing this family was. Turns out, the mom had found the church almost 20 yrs
ago, and since then, the LDS missionaries always somehow end up in their
lives. Melina told me that as long as she can remember, the LDS missionaries
have been visiting their family, and that every time something bad happened in
their family, the LDS missionaries ¨just so happen¨ to pass by, and the
Lord brought them back into their lives.

Later that week, we were in a ward council, and told our
ward leaders about this great lesson we´d had with Melina and her family.
Facundo - the first counselor - said, ´Oh yeah, I know her older sister, and
have met that family. The Ceparo family¨... as soon as we heard ¨Ceparo¨-Hna
Miranda and I just looked at each other. It was the same family that we had tried
to find before!!

Fast forward to this past Sunday - we were again talking
with Melina, and mentioned to her that transfers were this Tuesday. She looked
shocked and said ¨What? But I wanted to get baptized before either of you
left!? Hna Miranda said ¨Okay, well, then you`d have to get baptized on
Tuesday since transfers are Wednesday¨. Melina said ¨Let
me think about it during the Sunday School class¨. During the lesson, Melina
raised her hand, bore a powerful testimony about the Book of Mormon, and after
the class was over, came to us and asked ¨Does Tuesday at 8 o clock work for
you¨?

And just like that folks, Melina is getting baptized tonight
:) What an AMAZING miracle!!

Dang. I gave away the secret. That last story was the
miracle :)

As if that wasn't enough, I got a phone call from the
Assistants this morning. I am being transferred out of Parana, and am being
called to serve in an area called San Nicolas, in the south of the mission, and
am training a new missionary who will be arriving tomorrow. Oof. Hang in there
for the next bit of this adventure - this is going to be a serious period of
faith and dependence upon the Lord, since I am still learning the language and
how to be an effective missionary. I wouldn't nominate myself to train, but
the Lord went ahead and did that without asking my opinion first,
ha ha :)

I´ll send a picture of my new companion and new area next week!!
I am so excited -there is no thrill in this world like knowing you are a tool in
the Lord's hand, and feeling His presence in your life. To heck with skydiving - I
get an adrenaline rush from preaching the Gospel, ha ha :)

I love you! And I am so excited for this next trial of my
faith! We will work miracles in San Nicolas, I know it :)

Love, Hna Lake

P.S. I still want to go skydiving though.

P.P.S. Mom!! San Nicolas is close to Buenos Aires!! did you
ever serve in an area close to it?

These are just a few of the topic addressed. If you have any questions, please visit this website or request to meet with the LDS missionaries serving in your area (similar to how I'll be serving in Argentina), who will provide reliable and true answers to any questions you may have. You can request to meet with LDS missionaries HERE: